Something of a cinematic seminar course, one content to marvel at a medium rather than critically engage it, “The Story of Film: A New Generation” has a lot to say about movies yet little to say about cinema. In his exhaustive, frantically analytical sprint through hundreds of motion pictures, director Mark Cousins connects ideas and shared themes to demonstrate a vast, shared conversation via screens big and small, yet refuses to grapple with some of the most pressing issues connected to the film industry of 2021. A celebration of cinema, sure, yet the documentary fails in the realm it champions as the true test of quality: extending the language of film.
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Fans of Cousins’ previous installment in this documentary series (“The Story of Film: An Odyssey”) will be familiar with the style of “A New Generation,” with the steady voiceover and smash cuts introducing brief snippets of films in a broad, running conversation. Cousins opens with an analysis of “Frozen” and “Joker,” commenting on the shared feelings of isolation and loneliness in each film’s lead, and how movies from such different genres manage to speak fluently with each other. This is just the first of literally hundreds of comparisons between pictures that span different time periods, genres, and nationalities, demonstrating Cousins’ admirably broad reach for the documentary’s larger discussion.
“A New Generation” is focused primarily on an analysis of cinema in the 21st century, and whether it is extending the language of film. Looking at movies from the last twenty years and analyzing them through a lens of technical proficiency, innovation, and even a reinvention of the craft itself, Cousins compares Beyonce with Jane Russell, “Mad Max: Fury Road” with “Ram Leela,” and even “The Seashell and the Clergyman” with “On Body and Soul.” In each comparison, Cousins is making smart, informed points about camera placement, lens adjustments, color palates, use of movement, and metaphorical employment, but it all feels of its own piece, and unconnected to a larger discussion about cinema in the 21st century.
Indeed, “A New Generation” comes off like an on-the-job training video for the most accomplished movie rental clerk position on the planet. Watching this, a viewer will learn quite a bit about film, yet preciously little about the pressing conversations surrounding the art form in 2021. Although movies like “Black Panther” and “Joker” are featured, there’s no grappling with the devastation superhero monoculture has wrought on the small-to-mid-level film market. Cousins and his roulette wheel of cinematic analysis spins fast and lands with seemingly random and exciting effect, yet it rarely sounds a critical note or challenges the direction of the medium in any real way. For Cousins, there only seems to be a noble, creative arc upwards, with phrases like “Streaming Wars,” “Me Too,” and “Finance Tranche” nowhere to be found.
This isn’t born out of a lack of daring or confidence, either. Cousins makes bold statements about the filmmakers and movies he’s discussing, saying things like, “The least expected comedy of our times came from one of the most serious filmmakers of our times: Bruno Dumont.” Through his narration, Cousins takes big swings with his observations, and isn’t precious about it, remarking at another point about the opening credits of 2016’s “Deadpool,” saying, “A head in the ass of Deadpool…the language of superhero comedy extended.”
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For a documentary interested in the growth and stretching of cinematic norms and expectations, “A New Generation” is surprisingly tame with its own presentation and structure. Content to just sit back and toss unsupported observations and conclusions at its audience with nothing in the way of interviews or talking-head input, Cousins appears to be doing little but holding court, here. A book report-style documentary with no creative flourishes or even traditional support structure to bolster its arguments, Cousins’ effort is the antithesis of that which it lauds so enthusiastically.
Where’s the innovation, the extension? A discussion about the use of bodies in film, which touches on pictures like “Hustlers” and Moonlight,” makes some great points, yet that’s all this documentary is—an exhaustive 160-minute carnival of cinematic observation. It is film school CliffsNotes.
Some interesting discussions abound in the piece, and audiences will likely discover a couple of movies that flew under their radar a few years ago, yet that’s all “A New Generation” can boast. Cousins is insightful, thorough in his technical comparisons, and well-read in the library of cinema, yet never quite connects his work to a larger tapestry that extends the form. Full of all the insights and visual/thematic/compositional connections that would impress any film studies professor, “A New Generation” still stops short of anything that might put it within the broader cinematic conversation it celebrates. [C]
